Bonnie Jean "B.J." Poteet

Bonnie Jean Poteet makes her debut in the final season of the series. B.J. brings a welcome down-to-earth air and wit to the firm amidst all the everyday drama of her co-workers. Despite all of her money, it is the simple things that amuse her.

B.J. finds nothing more entertaining than people. She loves to push their buttons and especially revels in the bizarre personality quirks of her co-workers. Though very opinionated, she never allows her difference of opinion to affect the way she feels about a person or how she treats them. She does, however, enjoy watching a person get all flustered -- sometimes purposely pushing the necessary buttons to get the show started, and then tempering the situation with her own brand of wit and sarcasm. Julia, especially, is B.J.'s favorite target. She knows the Julia is very left-liberal, and B.J. loves to bring up subjects that she knows will ruffle Julia's feathers.

Formerly a court reporter in Houston, B.J. once even served a stint as a bump and grind go-go dancer to make ends meet. She fell in love and married contractor James Poteet after he was a litigant in her courtroom. Unfortunately, their life together was cut short when he died of a heart attack during their wedding reception. Lonely after being suddenly widowed, B.J. uses Poteet Industries to bring new cash flow to Sugarbaker's when Allison pulls her investment from the firm. B.J. knows nothing about decorating (then, of course, neither did Suzanne), but she enjoys spending time with her new co-workers and bringing in business for the firm. Apparently Sugarbaker's is largely dependent on her investment. In the series finale, when a rival attempts to take over Poteet Industries, it actually puts the ownership of Sugarbaker's in jeopardy as well.

B.J. loves to make a splash and be heard. She says that when someone has opinions as good as hers are, they deserve to be heard. One way she does that is to rent several billboards around Atlanta that spout off her viewpoints as "B.J. Says" --- which incites the anger of vegetarian extremists and gun lobbyists, but B.J. couldn't care less.

It's amusing to watch B.J. as she pokes fun at her co-workers' dramatic behavior and reactions to every little thing. The night she meets the Sugarbaker's team, recovering alcoholic B.J. just sits back and absorbs their drunken release of inhibitions. As their relationship continues, she tries to temper each overly dramatic display with a bit of reality -- through sarcasm, of course, so as to appropriately poke fun at the ridiculousness. She had millions of dollars left to her when her husband passed away, but having people with whom to share her days and using her wealth to further her enjoyment of those people seem to be much more important than anything money can buy her.